NOUAKCHOTT, 7 August 2008 (IRIN) -
International leaders, heads of states and human rights lobbyists have
condemned the military ouster of Mauritania's President Sidi Mohamed ould
Cheikh Abdallahi, and Prime Minister Yahya ould Ahmed Waghf on 6 August,
while analysts question how the latest political shake-up will affect a
country that is reeling from rising food and living costs, as it reintegrates
thousands of refugees.

The coup started just hours after a presidential
decree early on Wednesday that …

This preliminary Emergency Appeal seeks
CHF 750,000 (USD 731,134 or EUR 462,475) in cash, kind, or services to
support the National Societies of West and Central Africa to assist 47,500
beneficiaries.

CHF 483,047 has been allocated from the
Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to start the planned
activities. Discussions are currently taking place to reallocate approximately
CHF 550,000 remaining from the 2007 West Africa floods appeal to support
this appeal.

The International Federation's Disaster
Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a source of un-earmarked money created
by the Federation in 1985 to ensure that immediate financial support is
available for Red Cross Red Crescent response to emergencies.

The West Africa region continues to experience the devastating consequences of two decades of complex emergencies and recurrent natural disasters. One of the poorest regions of the world, its problems are compounded by geographical and logistical challenges, such as large expanses of landlocked areas and extremely poor transportation networks. Poverty, the lack of basic social services, and weak governance have all resulted in extreme vulnerability to recurrent disasters, epidemics, violence, insecurity and population displacements.

Each week, the World Health Organization
Health Action in Crises in Geneva produces information highlights on critical
health-related activities in countries where there are humanitarian crises.
Drawing on the various WHO programmes, contributions cover activities from
field and country offices and the support provided by WHO regional offices
and headquarters. The mandate of the WHO departments specifically concerned
with Emergency and Humanitarian Action in Crises is to increase the effectiveness
of the WHO contribution to crisis preparedness and response, transition
and recovery.

Following several years of drought, heavy
rains battered the regions of Guidimakha, Gorgol, and Brakna in Mauritania
within a period of 20 days. Although much anticipated, the rains caused
extensive damage. Around 30,000 people have been affected, according to
the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The
floods have received scant media attention in the town of Tintane, where
the needs of the affected population are great and assistance limited.

1. An agricultural season in which
there were both droughts and floods Sahelian and West African agricultural
producers were subjected successively to two types of climatic shocks:

- A small pocket of drought at the beginning
of the agricultural campaign with irregular or insufficient rainfall. This
situation led to a late start to the agricultural campaign which did not
getunderway until mid- July 2007, resulting in late re/seeding.

"The number of people threatened by
natural disasters had increased by three times over the last 30 years and
the number of people affected by natural disasters doubled every 10 years.
Tens of millions of people had been affected this year by floods in countries
all over the world. The link between the increase in disasters and climate
change, which had been predicted by scientists, was unmistakable. Also,
more people were now living in exposed areas. Some of the biggest cities
in the world were built in disaster zones.